This banana cream pie recipe has been handed down through the generations by the women in my family. Most recently, it made the transition from its South African origin to America, as I brought it to college and proceeded to make it a couple times a term for my best friend and me to pig out on and distract from finals week stress. It’s that good.
The first time I tried the American version of this pie, I was completely stunned. I could not believe it was called the same thing, since they were completely different taste-wise, as well as in ingredients.
Unlike the more traditional Banana Cream Pie recipes, this pie is not made with instant vanilla pudding powder, milk and cornstarch, or banana puree baked into a doughy crust. No, this is an entirely new kind of banana cream pie that I thought the world had the right to experience. No baking necessary.
So what makes my family’s recipe so special? Well, Oreos in the crust for a start. You can’t go wrong with a chocolatey, crunchy crust that adds flavour and texture to the filling, rather than being a chewy mess you have to get through to enjoy the good stuff.
Also, there are real slices of banana at the bottom, made tangy and kept fresh with a little lemon juice that cuts the sweetness of the filling and tips you over into a foodgasm. The filling is creamy and rich, and nothing containing cream cheese could ever be a disappointment.
And who doesn’t like to get a little tipsy when eating pie? Well, this might do just that if you have enough of it, since the filling contains rum. The handmade whipped cream finale is literally the topping on the pie.
#SpoonTip: This recipe does contain raw egg yolks; however, as salmonella is most commonly found on the outside shell of an egg, there is a very tiny chance that using raw egg yolks will result in ingesting the bacteria. Only 1 in 20,000 eggs are contaminated by salmonella bacteria, so you’re probably going to be fine—but you’ve been warned.
Banana Cream Pie
Ingredients
Instructions
Gather ingredients together. If you are using small bananas, make sure you have three. If you have exceptionally long/large bananas, you should be fine with just two. Make sure you only use egg yolks. Save the whites for another project or toss them.
#SpoonTip: You can make your own pie crust by crushing the cookie part of Oreos and mixing with butter, then pressing mixture into a pie dish, but I’m a lazy college student so I just buy one.
Layer slices of banana in the pie dish overlapping until the entire base is covered in bananas. Squeeze lemon juice over them so they stay fresh. It also adds a delightful tang.
In a mixing bowl, mix together the egg yolks, and the cream cheese. Then add the 1/2 cup of sugar and rum and mix again. Scoop this mixture over the bananas and spread evenly to the edges.
In a separate bowl whisk the heavy whipping cream, 1-2 tablespoons of sugar, and vanilla extract together until it forms stiff peaks and holds its shape. It should not be runny or u0022pourable.u0022
When you have the right consistency and it’s sweet enough to your taste, scoop on top of the filling in the pie dish and spread evenly out to the crust.
Now for garnishes. For this, I like to use sliced banana around the edge near the crust, and sometimes I like to add chocolate shavings or Oreo crumbles or cookie crumbles in the center.
Cut the pie into quarters, then eighths.
Lever out a slice, grab a fork, and enjoy!
So when finals have got you down (or life in general), and you need a quick pick me up that fills that empty feeling in your soul, this pie will fix everything—even if only for a few, delicious minutes.